Fuming inside, but unable to speak up against it, Ji Tianye just stared at Jian Wubai and slowly nodded. "Of course, Sect Master. This much is enough."
Quite a few members of the Ji family were still around at the Life and Death Arena, and with a sound transmission, Ji Tianye quickly got them to leave.
Since the Law Enforcement Division was already on the move and the Sect Master was trying to deliver a serious blow to the Ji family, Ji Tianye had to prepare for the worst.
Jian Wubai looked at him and smiled. "In that case, I won't delay you any longer, Ji Tianye."
The latter lightly bowed his head and excused himself, vanishing deeper into the sect. Jian Wubai took another look around.
The gathered disciples, old and young, looked at him with awe filled eyes. He smiled lightly at them and waved his hand. "This battle is over. Everyone has seen how it has gone down."
He paused for a moment before continuing in a more serious tone. "The Life and Death Arena will always be fair, no matter who fights atop of it. Our sect encourages all disciples to peacefully cultivate and to have healthy relationships with each other."
The surrounding people nodded, while Jian Wubai glanced at Zhang Baichi for a moment. "…But sometimes, grudges still develop. And if those grudges cannot be endured any longer, the Life and Death Arena is there to settle them. Everyone is treated equal here. Prove that you're right through your sword. That is all."
Zhang Baichi listened to him and let out a long sigh. Jian Wubai placed his hand on Zhang Baichi's shoulder again and smiled. "Let's leave. You did well today."
Naturally, his mood was good. Not only did a get a truly terrifyingly talented disciple, but he also managed to strike a blow to the Ji family.
The politics in the upper echelons of any sect were complicated, especially in the Fleeting Storm Sword Sect, where there were three prominent families at the top.
A single blow could decide the line of succession not only for that family, but also for the position of Sect Master.
'Moreover,' Jian Wubai thought, 'The Lu family will not let them live this down. Although they always seem to help the Ji family, they're all backstabbing snakes. Especially those old fogeys.'
Zhang Baichi and Jian Wubai walked down from the stage and the spectators created a path for them and lowered their heads.
After leaving the plaza, Jian Wubai grabbed Zhang Baichi and took his up the mountain in the same manner as Jian Fu did before, though Jian Wubai was more considerate than his brother.
He shielded Zhang Baichi from the outside, so both of them landed in front of Jian Wubai's wooden cottage calmly.
Together, they went inside the cottage and Jian Wubai sat down at the same spot at the end of the small hall, looking at Zhang Baichi. "What I said before still holds true. It's normal for you to grief and to be sad, but time will heal those wounds."
Zhang Baichi nodded, not saying a word.
"For the time being, rest. Take the door on your left and then the second door on the right. You can make yourself at home there for now." Jian Wubai instructed as he sent Zhang Baichi off.
Zhang Baichi followed the instructions and found himself in a small hallway that lead to many rooms. He opened the second door on the right and entered the small room.
It was a simple wooden room, sparsely furnished, just like the wooden cottages used by the Outer Sect disciples.
Zhang Baichi laid down on the bed and closed his eyes. 'Something… has changed. I feel weird.'
This was the feeling he has had since Ji Jian's death. He shouldn't have felt grief and sadness for the old Zhang Baichi's late family. At least, it wasn't like that before.
He always knew about the old Zhang Baichi's matters and memories, but it was never as intense as now. He couldn't differentiate between his own and the old Zhang Baichi's memories and emotions.
'System, what is happening to me?' Zhang Baichi asked in his head, his eyes still closed.
In front of him, a half-transparent screen of light appeared - the system interface.
[Ding! Host in currently in the prosses of merging with the 'old Zhang Baichi'.]
'Merging? What does that mean? Didn't that already happen?', he questioned, his eyes open and fixated at the system interface.
[Ding! Host is correct. The normal merging process has already finished. However, the raging emotions experienced by Host have stimulated the soul of the 'old Zhang Baichi'. This soul is currently merging with the soul of the Host.]
'So it's something like that…', He mused. 'Is that dangerous?'
[Ding! Host does not need to worry. The soul of the 'old Zhang Baichi' is in a fragmented state and does not possess the means to bring harm to Host.]
'Right, he's been dead for a few months now… How long will this merging process last?' Zhang Baichi was surprisingly calm.
Although it was probably the weirdest thing he has ever felt - aside from dying, maybe – he had enough trust for the system to not lie to him. Moreover, he knew at least a few dozen novels from his old world that had the exact same thing happen to the main character.
[Ding! The merging process will take approximately 13 hours to finish.]
"Right, so I'll be good tomorrow. But, I can't cultivate like this.", Zhang Baichi muttered.
He sat up on the bed and stretched his neck a bit. 'Fighting Ji Jian wasn't too hard, but it was a good training… Still, it's a bit concerning that I feel nothing after taking someone's life… Is there something wrong with me?'
Under normal circumstances, Zhang Baichi would expect himself to be shaken up. After all, when he injured Di Yuansheng from the Law Enforcement Division, he was already shaking, but now, after killing someone with his own hands, he felt totally fine…
'Is this because of the old Zhang Baichi? Because he truly believed that Ji Jian deserved death? So there's no guilt, which means no apprehensions?' Zhang Baichi was brooding on the matter, but couldn't find an answer.
'Whatever. It's a cultivation world, anyways. R*pe, murder, exploitation, robbery, slaves – anything goes… There's literally people flying in the sky, world shaking powers, magical techniques, weapons and pills…' He tried to console himself, but quickly became distracted.
'Wait, pills? So far, I got them from the system, but other people also get them, right? Does that mean that there's also stuff like alchemy?' for some reason, Zhang Baichi was getting excited again.
He already knew that such matters were common tropes in the novels he read, but now… now they might be real. 'It would be great if I could learn it. At least, I wouldn't get bored when I couldn't cultivate or train.'
Of course, he knew that this was a far stretch. At least for the current him, it would be impossible to learn alchemy. He didn't know if he had any talent for the matter to begin with and he was still preoccupied with the soul merging.
Then, there was also the matter of becoming the Sect Master's disciple. Now that it was officially announced, he was certain that Jian Wubai did have some kind of plan as to why he had accepted Zhang Baichi as his personal disciple.
'And why I was supposed to reach the peak of the Body Forging Realm. Though I guess he's also quite the nice guy. Since my mental state isn't in good condition at the moment, he just gave me some space…' Zhang Baichi's impression of Jian Wubai became even better.
He crossed his legs and meditated. Since he couldn't cultivate, he might as well focus on the merging of souls and sort out all the new memories he was constantly 'remembering'
This way, he would at least know about his own origins.
So far, he had only ever come to know bits and pieces about the old Zhang Baichi, but now it felt like these memories were truly his own.
He remembered how he grew up under the care of his loving family. His father took care of a small shop in a town not too far away from the sect and his mother was responsible for their home and the children.
He often played with his cousins, had lovely grandparents and a close relationship with his aunts and uncles.
Compared to his life on earth, it was a truly beautiful childhood.
Of course, that was only until Ji Jian came into play…
This beautiful life had been destroyed in one night.
Afterwards, he was brought to the Fleeting Storm Sword Sect and vowed to take revenge.
That revenge was everything to the old Zhang Baichi. He trained for one and a half years and got to the 3rd Layer of the Body Forging Realm.
Then he found out that Ji Jian was also a member of this sect. They hadn't met each other for one a half years, but the moment they did, Zhang Baichi lost his cool.
He attacked Ji Jian, was beaten like a dog, but still challenged Ji Jian to a battle on the Life and Death Arena.
From then on, Ji Jian's lackeys would regularly make his life worst than death, while his only 'friend' was Lu Hao…
'Speaking of Lu Hao… I haven't seen him since he gave me those poisoned pills. What happened to him?', Zhang Baichi mused…